Pokémon Manectric

[Ash Borer]

Name: Manectric
Type: Electric
Ability: Static / Lightningrod / Minus (DW)
Base Stats: 70 / 75 / 60 / 105 / 60 / 105
MEvo Type: Electric
MEvo Ability: Intimidate
MEvo Stats: 70 / 75 / 80 / 135 / 80 / 135

Level-Up Movepool (incomplete)

• Level <30: Electric terrain
• Level <30: Fire Fang
• Level <30: Tackle
• Level <30: Thunder wave
  
• Level 30: Bite
• Level 37: Thunder Fang
• Level 42: Roar

TM & HM Compatibility (incomplete)

• TM 06: Toxic
• TM 10: Hidden Power
• TM 17: Protect
• TM 18: Rain Dance
• TM 21: Frustration
• TM 24: Thunderbolt
• TM 25: Thunder
• TM 27: Return
• TM 32: Double Team
• TM 35: Flamethrower
• TM 42: Facade
• TM 44: Rest
• TM 45: Attract
• TM 57: Charge Beam
• TM 70: Flash
• TM 73: Thunder Wave
• TM 88: Sleep Talk
• TM 93: Wild Charge
• TM 100: Confide
• HM 04: Strength

Notable moves:
Volt Switch
Thunder
Thunderbolt
Electric terrain
Overheat
Flamethrower
Hidden Power
Thunder wave
Charge Beam
Discharge

Lightning lights up the night sky! Thunder cracks, and the heavens open! Mega manectric has arrived. Manectric was seemingly overshadowed by very similar pokemon, jolteon, and raikou for quite some time. Mamalian canine like electric typed fast special attackers, the OU, and UU tier for the past few gens weren't big enough for the all three of them of them. No longer! mega manectric is faster, bulkier, has a superior movepool, and hits only weaker than the choice specs set jolteon or raikou sport. Manectric, in my opinion has great, great merit as a Volt-switch spamming momentum keeping pokemon. Intimidate is a stellar ability, but with just 70/80/80 defenses, although by no means frail, countless switch ins are not granted, however when paired with other u-turn, and volt switching spamming pokemon manectric makes a good switch to many physical attackers, or anything it can outspeed, and nail with a strong move. Further still manectric's excellent speed tier make it a great revenge killer. Manectric's access to overheat/flamethrower act as excellent anti steel, and anti grass moves, blazing, quite literally through monsters like ferrothorn, celebi, excadrill, and many other threatening pokemon the likes of which manectric's cousins would have to run a pitiful HP fire for. It's also worth mentioning that electric types are flatly immune to paralysis now, meaning that manectric is never in danger of becoming severly crippled by paralysis, making it an excellent option when choosing a pokemon that can bring speed to the table. Manectric also has another trick up its sleeve, before mega evolution its not slow, and can absorb an electric attack, while receiving a nice special attack boost. This gives manectric switch in opportunities to evolve, and threaten with a very strong 135 base special attack. Unfortunately, mega manectric isn't as blazing fast as some its fellow mega friends, nor is it exceedinly beefy and dearly misses the ability to run a pair of specs or a sporty scarf. Despite this mega manectric is a very, very solid volt switch spamming, revenge killing lightning doge.

The Transformer
Manectric @ Manectrite
Ability: Lightningrod -> Intimidate
Evs: 252 speed / 252 Satk / 4 hp
Nature: Timid
- Volt Switch
- Hidden power [Ice]
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt

What do transformers do? They switch voltages, just like manectric. Manectric also transforms opponent switch advantage into yours ;-). Anyways, mega manectric is a rock solid pokemon. Intimidate, speed, power and movepool that manectric has allows it to switch in on, answer to on switch advantage, or check a number of pokemon, including but not limited to scizor, dragonite, salamence, ferrothorn, jirachi, togekiss, thundurus-therian, etc. Volt switch is your primary move, when you find yourself up against a pokemon that you are forcing out, or can KO with volt switch, spamming it allows you to maintain switch advantage. One of mega manectric's merits is that due to naturally stellar speed and special attack he is still good without a choice item, and thus, many ground types that might want to halt a volt-switch simply find themselves facing a strong hidden power ice, that in many cases is 4x effective. Garchomp, landorus-therian, gliscor, the list goes on, volt switch stopping pokemon no longer have the luxury that is gaining momentum against a choice item. Weakened hippowdons, thudurus', jolteon, and other electric immune pokemon should also watch out when tangling with manectric. OVerheat is great move for a hit and run pokemon, and countless pokemon in OU get scorched by it. Something like mega lucario can only hit you with its resisted bullet punch while it takes an overheat. Thunderbolt is the strong STAB move for when you need to deal some good consistent damage.

that's about it for manectric. Good old HP grass can be ran to blast gastrodon who practically walls you, but ice is generally superior. Thunderwave can spread status if you prefer to do that over volt switching, charge beam is possible to attempt a boosting set, but despite mega manectric's merits, raikou's calm mind is still probably better. REgular manectric is inferior to jolteon, raikou mostly, and mega manectric. Protect is actually a very viable move for mega manectric. In a pinch it can be used to mega evolve completely safely, but it also has excellent scouting capabilities. Mega manectric is FAST but lacks a scarf, so opposing scarfers beat it pretty badly. However protect lets you maintain momentum agaisnt scarfers and scout sets out. IF you've revealed the hidden power ice, why would an opponent bring their landorus-therian in after you just got a kill with manectric's thunderblt? Protect in this situation lets you ease prediction. Finding a moveslot for it might be tough, but it's worth considering.

Checks, counters

Gastrodon, and beefy ground types do quite well against manectric, all it can muster is a sad little 60BP ice move, which is by no means terrible, but at the same time you arent breaking hippowdon with it. Tyranitar, and blissey's phenomenal special bulk mean manectric are not going to be putting much pressure on these pokemon, volt switching on their switch into a solid fighting type will show those two who's boss though. Beware the pursuit of tyranitar, volt switching is generally what youre confined to if the opponent is packing tyranitar. MEga ampharos, hydreigon, latios, and other dragons such as kyurem-B resists all of manectric's moves outside of HP ice, or overheat, thus act as safer switch ins, a 2x effectiveness with hidden power or a neutral overheat usually wont cut it. Again those mons are welcome to switch into volt switch all day. scarfers dont have trouble against manectric, but a lot of struggle to switch in, so theyre checks at best


Final Thoughts, and points of discussion

Manectric is quick and can hit a lot mons hard, but anything with a bit of bulk it that it doesnt hit super effectively, doesnt struggle too much against it. If you'll notice the check and counter anaylsis is quite insistent on the idea that volt switching against counter pokemon is your best option. Pairing pokemon that beat these counters with manectric, especially trapping them gives manectric a great deal of synergy to a team. Mega manectric wishes it could carry an item. A blazing fast scarfer that fears no keldeo, no landorus, no garchomp, fears nothing you could say would be brilliant, but is not possible. Specs would be leaving dents in all kinds of teams, too. But, the bottom line is manectric is damn fast, and not weak by any means in a fast metagame, it can perform a unique role, and check a lot of threats. Any team that needs this role filled can look to mega manectric!

SO what do you guys think about this pokemon?
Is it viable in ou?
What other sets can it run?
Is it outclassed by competitors?

 

[Fundance]

Very interested in Electric Terrain and I feel like Manectric is possibly the best setter for it. 135 speed when Mevoed plus superior bulk to its regular form allow it to get in there, set up terrain, then get out while leaving a massive dent in anything unfortunate enough to get hit by Volt Switch. From there it can switch in a Magnezone to trap steels with, block incoming water attacks with a well timed pass to Dry Skin Helioptile, and a variety of other great electric-type partners that can benefit from Terrain.

 

[scorpdestroyer]

I don't see why I should use this over something like Thundurus-T: Thundy hits harder thanks to its ability to hold an item, can absorb Electric-type moves and gain momentum like Manectric, and can afford to run Grass Knot and Focus Blast for better coverage. Meanwhile, Manectric may be a little bulkier on the physical side, but takes up a MegaEvo slot that could very well be used for something better and that hits harder. In fact, pretty much the only reason for this would be Intimidate + Volt Switch giving Manectric the ability to support its teammates. Besides, seeing Manectric on an OU team is pretty much a dead giveaway and screams "hey look I'm using Mega Manectric", so it's really predictable. I don't think this guy will be very good in OU, though I think it will have a nice niche of Intimidate + momentum in UU

 

[mdbtg]

Does Manectric get Electrify? Because that and Lightningrod would be amazing. After you've got some boosts, them go mega, intimidate and kill. I feel this will probably be BL at least.

 

[scorpdestroyer]

tbh I don't see the point of Electric Terrain. You're giving Manectric a slight boost in power... Then what, Volt Switch out? Unless I'm mistaken and Electric Terrain has another effect, I don't think Electric Terrain is that amazing. Thundurus-T still has a higher base special attack AND the ability to hold a Life Orb, so it hits harder right off the bat. Even with the boost from Electric Terrain, I believe Thundy is still more powerful unless the boost is like 50% or something. Manectric also has no business setting up since it's mainly supposed to gain momentum and Volt Switch, and isn't particularly bulky. Thundurus-T meanwhile hits harder with no set up and doesn't take up a MEvo slot, and even if you did want to set up, it gets Nasty Plot which makes it a whole lot more powerful than Manectric. Unless you're pairing Manectric with another Electric-type, I don't see why I should use Electric Terrain

Electrify actually sounds really interesting, but unfortunately Manectric isn't fast enough to outspeed a lot of common Pokemon such as Lati@s, Gengar, Alakazam, and Scarf anything before it Mega Evolves. It's probably going to be something that sounds really good on paper but not in practice, unfortunately.

 

[Fundance]

Electric terrain is a 50% boost to all electric moves, possibly increases special defense of electric pokemon too, and prevents sleep to all grounded Pokemon.

That's a boost to ALL electric damage of Manectric's volt-turn partner, as well as protection from Sleep. It also stacks with rain and other weather effects. I don't know about you, but a weather boost to all electric moves in your party for 5 turns and protection from sleep sounds well worth the turn used to set it up. It also reportedly procs all electricity related abilities INCLUDING Lightning rod and Volt Absorb.

For regular lightningrod Manectric that's a 2X boost to electric moves, and from there it can Volt Switch in to Jolteon or whatever, take out a target, come back the next turn while ET is still active and reap the 50% boost to its damage without having to set up again.

 

[Nozzle]

Electric terrain is a 50% boost to all electric moves, possibly increases special defense of electric pokemon too, and prevents sleep to all grounded Pokemon.

That's a boost to ALL electric damage of Manectric's volt-turn partner, as well as protection from Sleep. It also stacks with rain and other weather effects. I don't know about you, but a weather boost to all electric moves in your party for 5 turns and protection from sleep sounds well worth the turn used to set it up. It also reportedly procs all electricity related abilities INCLUDING Lightning rod and Volt Absorb.

For regular lightningrod Manectric that's a 2X boost to electric moves, and from there it can Volt Switch in to Jolteon or whatever, take out a target, come back the next turn while ET is still active and reap the 50% boost to its damage without having to set up again.

I think it sounds good in theory but in practice you probably want to benefit free turns as much as you can and Electric Terrain doesn't have good enough of a reward for me. It also only lasts 5 turns and if the opponent knows what he is doing he can easily stall those turns out IF it turns out to be a problem of some sort.

 

[DTC]

Electric Terrain's utility is dubious at best. It does not proc Lightningrod in any way (I've tested it out ingame), and all it does is boost Electric-type attacks by 50% and prevent sleep to all grounded Pokemon. It's basically just a +1 boost to Electric-type attacks and a sleep immunity. That's outclassed by Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, etc... granted Manectric does not get those moves, but that just means Manectric should not bother with using some sort of boosting move.

At this point I'm just hoping Manectric gets Electrify. Electrify Manectric would be so annoying for slower teams as it can just spam Electrify and kill everything with the Lightningrod boost that it accumulates as long as you have at least SR up and the Ground-types are weakened.

 

[Fundance]

Ok, so it doesn't proc lightningrod. At least we know for sure that's the case. I assume it doesn't work as cure sleep, meaning it can't be used with Rest?

 

[Goutland]

I don't see Mega Manectric as being very viable in gen 6 OU right now, but it may have a small niche with intimidate + volt switch with passable offenses (lol Luxray). But even then it seems like a pretty poor option if that's all you want it to do. We already have Landorus-T as an intimidate pivot that gets leftovers, has better bulk, and has a better movepool. So defensively I'd say it's outclassed, but offensively I'd say it outclasses Jolteon and can function as a "scarf Thundurus-T without the scarf" with that amazing speed stat. The only problems are that its movepool is so incredibly barren that it literally only has 4 viable moves (6 if you count thunder and flamethrower) and 135 spA unboosted is really only average for OU (think scarf Keldeo).

I'm predicting Mega Manectric to function pretty much exactly the same as it does now in RU. Its primary role will probably be revenge killing and cleanup, just now it doesn't have to be locked into one move. And of course intimidate lets it check Dragonite, Scizor, etc. more easily as porky said. It really doesn't have the stats or movepool to do anything else. Whether it'll be OU or not we won't know for a while. I'd say it won't be OU, but it'll certainly have a niche.

 

[Lucalibur]

On one hand, the added bulk and offensive stats are really appreciate regardless of the set. On the other hand, Mega Manectric has a really stupid design, which by itself is going to bring it at least 2 tiers below where it would normally fall.

On a more serious note, I can't see this thing being used a lot in OU. It ain't bad by any means, but that speed and special attack simply don't hold up to the other Mega Pokemon, and Manectric by itself is not really that great. I can definitely see it falling into UU, or in the least RU, because those stats and movepool are definitely nothing to laugh at.

 

[azureleaf17]

Here's a problem I foresee:

252 SpA Timid Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Dusknoir: 126-149 (42.85 - 50.68%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Timid Mega Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Dusknoir: 117-138 (39.79 - 46.93%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Even Modest Mega Manectric (say that three times fast) barely outdamages Timid Life Orb:

252 SpA Modest Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Dusknoir: 127-151 (43.19 - 51.36%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Although you could argue that you could just run Modest if you're going to run Mega Manectric, the power difference is so small and the chance to get outsped by positive-nature base 130s is so dangerous that I don't think it's worth it. Mega Manectric is blisteringly fast, but the Life Orb Special Attacker actually outdamages the Mega evolution. A lot of Mega Evolutions got something to compensate for this power drop, like Adaptability Mega Lucario, Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl, and Huge Power Mega Mawile. Unless you're going for something fast enough to outspeed base 130s, you might do better looking elsewhere.

 

[Goutland]

Yes, Mega Manectric is weaker than life orb regular Manectric, but that's not the point. The only reason Manectric was ever used in RU was speed over the Rotoms. Previously Manectric was not fast enough to function in OU, but now it is. Whether it's worth using your mega slot for is something else though.

 

[Temporaryanonymous]

Mega Manectric looks to be a Jolteon/Raikou/Thundurus 2.0. The only little niche I see it having is intimidate, and lightningrod prior to mega evolution, but it seems to be outclassed by other Pokemon. It's not a bad Pokemon by any means, but it's outclassed and I don't think many people would want to use their one mega evolution on Manectric when there are better Pokemon to mega evolve. In fact, Manectric is probably better off with scarf or specs.

 

[Ash Borer]

mega manectric is sadly outclassed by Thundurus-therian as a sweeper due to lack of boosting moves, or items. However, it still has the "Scarf without a scarf" niche, I think its volt switch spamming set still brings a fair amount ot the table, and hopefully it gets placed in a nice tier where it can shine this generation.

 

[PK Gaming]

Even if it's a little bit weak for a mega, it can outspeed a significant amont of Pokemon and Intimidate is a fantastic ability, period. I wish it had more coverage moves to tackle the water / grounds, but at the very least it can destroy grass-types with Overheat. I'd definitely look into using Electric Terrain; A 50% boost to electric-type moves is a non-significant amount, especially since Manectric lacks a boosting item.

BTw, There's absolutely no sense in claiming that Thundurus-T outclasses it; it's got a whopping 30 base speed lead on it, and a completely different ability.

 

[EonX]

Here's the problem I have with Manectric. Sure it got a Mega Evo, but it loses Lightningrod as soon as it evos. It's bulk still isn't amazing, it takes up a Mega Evo slot, but more importantly, all of its main attacks got nerfed in power (Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Hidden Power, Overheat, etc.) The only move that didn't get a power nerf is Volt Switch. It's barely faster than Jolteon WITH the Mega Evo and Jolteon retains the ability to take in Electric-type moves without damage. Just don't see much merit in this tbh.

 

[marmotnz]

I feel that if anything, mega manectric will be able to form interesting cores with Pokemon such as Gyarados a la GenIV. Activating Lightingrod, then mega evolving to activate Intimidate whilst making use of superior bulk and speed may make Manectric a good team player, more than a stand alone sweeper.

 

[Green]

Manectric got Signal Beam last gen, would it be worth running Signal Beam on Mega Manectric?

 

[RayStrikeAbius]

Manectric got Signal Beam last gen, would it be worth running Signal Beam on Mega Manectric?

Well, considering that Bug-moves are strong against Grass, Dark, and Psychic.....if Mega Manectric ends up in OU like this guy is predicting, then Signal Beam may hold some use in countering the abundant Psychic and Dark-types, who are not only crowding the OU tier but also throwing a good deal of counters at Manectric. It could also be used to deal with Grass-types, though Overheat kinda handles that already.

It really depends on how things turn out as we learn more information. Right now, it may be good in theory, but you never know how the metagame may end up shaping out. For me personally, right now it sounds like a filler-move at best.

 

[Green]

Well, considering that Bug-moves are strong against Grass, Dark, and Psychic.....if Mega Manectric ends up in OU like this guy is predicting, then Signal Beam may hold some use in countering the abundant Psychic and Dark-types, who are not only crowding the OU tier but also throwing a good deal of counters at Manectric. It could also be used to deal with Grass-types, though Overheat kinda handles that already.

It really depends on how things turn out as we learn more information. Right now, it may be good in theory, but you never know how the metagame may end up shaping out. For me personally, right now it sounds like a filler-move at best.

His only other alternative with his shallow movepool is HP Ice or HP Grass, both of which are too weak to do significant damage to anything.

 

[Rakurai]

I've been trying to breed all the manner of different moves onto Electrike in hopes that it might get something that could really improve the effectiveness of Mega Manectric, but I'm starting to run out of ideas.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what could be worth trying? I've been listing the ones that didn't work on the research thread for Manectric.

 

[dragonizzlenite]

I see this as a great Volt Turner. Pair it up with Lando-T and you whittle away at your opponent's health and simultaneously lower their Attack 2 stages. While I see other Megas taking the stage this gen, I wouldn't discount Mega Manectric, it's far from the worst Mega.

 

[Stone RG]

I like it, i mean the cool thing about Megas is that they all have a niche due to sheer power and/or respectable bulk.

I agree with PK here, 34 base speed over Thundurus T puts him ina completely different league when it comes to revenge killing or even late game sweeping, if you manage to nab in the Lightningrod, and Mega Evo late in the game, very few pokes must be in chape to take a +1 Tbolt coming off 135 base SpA, and it isnt even that necessary because of the offensive side the meta is seemingly shaping to. What i want to say it has a completely different role than Thundy T, who also has SR weakness, which doesnt help with his sub par bulk (which M manectric has more :]).

But there are obviously flaws that have already been mentioned, i dont think this thing will be a top dog (ha! get it?) of OU, but i mean, theres definetely a niche there, perfectly capable of late game cleaning.

 

[Impy]

All of these are valid points, but I'm not sure he justifies the mega slot. Anyone have any ideas for team synergy?